Political Reporter

Chaos is currently reigning supreme following refusal by some by-elections candidates to withdraw their candidature and pave way for Nelson Chamisa’s preferred candidates.

A source within CCC told this publication that several meetings by that party’s leadership to compel some candidates have yielded no results after some candidates chose to defy a party directive to withdraw their candidature.

The refusal by some candidates to withdraw has seen CCC fielding double candidates in Bulawayo’s Ward 9 (Mpopoma), Ward 26 (Emganwini) and Masvingo Urban Ward 4. According to the source, the CCC leadership has tried and failed to convince Thokozile Muchuchuti to withdraw her candidature in Masvingo Urban Ward 4 to pave way for Chamisa’s blue-eyed boy Aleck Tabe.

“The leaders have been trying to bully Muchuchuti to withdraw her candidature and they have threatened to expel her from the party. However, she refused as she is the one with the majority of the grassroots support. We are surprised why the party wants her to withdraw considering that she is a seasoned member of the party as compared to Tabe who has never been in the struggle,” said the source.

According to the source, Muchuchuti opined that by forcing her to withdraw and pave way for Tabe, the CCC had shown that it has no room for female politicians.

“Muchuchuti opines that she was being victimised because she is a woman. They are not considering that she is the sole female candidate in the four wards up for by-elections in the constituency. In 2018, they forced her to withdraw her candidature to pave way for Godfrey Kurauone despite her being the popular candidate,” said the source.

The source said that Tabe was rubbishing the claim by Muchuchuti that she was a senior member of the party, arguing that CCC was a new political outfit, hence no one should claim seniority.

In Bulawayo, a storm is also brewing after Mpumelelo Moyo and Bekithemba Nyathi refused to withdraw their candidatures for Wards 9 and 26 respectively, to pave way for Norman Hlabani and Donaldson Mabutho who are preferred by that party’s leadership.

On Saturday, Moyo’s supporters staged a demonstration against the alleged imposition of another candidate in the Ward. The placards used the demonstrations accused CCC secretary general Charlton Hwende of misleading the nation by claiming that Moyo had agreed to withdraw his candidature in support of Hlabani.

According to the source, both Moyo and Nyathi said it was better to be expelled from the CCC party than to withdraw their candidatures and disappoint their supporters.

Efforts to get a comment from CCC spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere were futile as her mobile phones were not reachable.